EUROPEAN SENIORS TOUR REPORT, SCORES

Carl Mason on a Swiss roll in the mountains

By PAUL SYMES
European Seniors Tour Press Officer
England’s Carl Mason put himself into contention to equal his compatriot Tommy Horton’s record of 23 Senior Tour wins with an opening round of 64 to lead the Bad Ragaz PGA Seniors Open.
Mason, who currently has 22 titles to his name in a glittering Senior Tour career, is a master of Golf Club Bad Ragaz in the Swiss Alps, having triumphed there in 2007 and 2008.
And the 57 year old, who recently passed the €2million mark in Senior Tour career earnings, is in pole position to complete a hat-trick of victories after compiling eight birdies to finish on six under par, one stroke ahead of Thailand’s Boonchu Ruangkit and England’s David J Russell.
That duo are themselves in fine form, with Ruangkit the runaway leader of the Order of Merit after three victories, and Russell having arrived in Switzerland on the back of capturing his maiden Senior Tour title at last week’s De Vere Collection PGA Seniors Championship. But even they may have to play second fiddle to Mason, whose only bogeys of the day came at the 12th and 14th holes.
He said: “I had a decent last round last week, so I came here with a bit of a spring in my step. But I’m always pretty confident when I play here anyway, because I’ve obviously got a good record here in the past. At the start of the season when the schedule comes out, this event is always one I think I should be contending in. The course just suits my game, and I feel particularly comfortable on the greens. Other than a bit of a wobble in the middle of the back nine, I played pretty well.
“But I’m not thinking about the win yet, because there’s an awful lot of golf still to be played. Obviously it’d be great to equal and then hopefully one day beat Tommy’s record, but I’m not going to put too much pressure on myself. If it happens here this week, then great. All I’m thinking about at the moment is going for a swim in the pool, because it’s so hot – the only stroke I’ll be practising this afternoon is my breast stroke!”
Russell’s round began in unfortunate fashion, with a bogey on the first hole. But he cancelled that out with a birdie on the eighth hole, and added a further five after the turn to come home in just 30.
SCOREBOARD
FIRST ROUND
Par 70
64 C Mason (Eng)
65 B Ruangkit (Tha) , D Russell (Eng)
66 S Van Vuuren (RSA) , B Boyd (USA) , M Belsham (Eng) , A Sowa (Arg) , S Owen (Nzl) , J Harrison (Eng) , D Merriman (Aus)
67 D O'Sullivan (Irl) , N Ratcliffe (Aus) , J Bruner (USA) , P Fowler (Aus) , J Quiros (Esp) , J Rhodes (Eng) , G Banister (Aus) , A Franco (Par)
68 G Ralph (Eng) , C Rocca (Ita) , K Spurgeon (Eng) , K Tomori (Jpn) , B Lincoln (RSA) , H Carbonetti (Arg) , T Giedeon (Ger) , M Farry (Fra) , B Smit (RSA) , M Cunning (USA) , C Grenier (Aut)
69 J Bland (RSA) , E Rodriguez (Esp) , T Burgoyne (Sco) , M Harwood (Aus) , I Mosey (Eng) , M Clayton (Aus) , G Cali (Ita) , R Chapman (Eng) , M Miller (Sco) , G Ryall (Eng) , J Gould (Eng)
70 P Oakley (USA) , J Chillas (Sco) , L Carbonetti (Arg) , A Fernandez (Chi) , S Cipa (Eng) , N Job (Eng) , B Charles (Nzl)
71 B Cameron (Eng) , M Williams (Zim) , M Poxon (Eng) , T Charnley (Eng) , A Garrido (Esp) , M Bembridge (Eng) , D Cambridge (Jam) , M Piñero (Esp) , J Heggarty (Nir) ,
72 S Bennett (Eng) , A Johnsson (Swe) , M Gray (Sco) , J Hall (Eng) , B Longmuir (Sco) , D Johnson (USA) , L Higgins (Irl)
73 G Towne (USA) , D Hospital (Esp) , H Schumacher (Sui) , V Garcia (Esp) , G Brand (Eng) ,
74 D Creamer (Eng) , E Polland (Nir) , C Williams (RSA) , T Allen (Eng) , A Croce (Ita) , F Mann (Sco) ,
75 J Hawkes (RSA)
76 D Durnian (Eng) 
78 T Gale (Aus)
81 V Krajewski (Sui)





COREBOARD TO COME